Secrets Of The Heart
by Nothing Personal
Summary: -AN: just an RD and a very Rough RD at that- S: Kirelan is a normal girl- or so she thinks. It isn't until weird dreams haunt her and she finds she's being stalked that she goes in search of answers- but is it already too late for her and her world?
1. Only the Beginnning

Another sluggish day in the suburbs.

The smog that cloaked the not-so-far-off city was just visible from the verandah which the sun alighted to the east. Light bounced off the metal-and-glass buildings, sending shards of light dancing off in every which way -- or so the girl imagined, since the smog hid most everything except the brightest from the naked eye. She leaned against the railing, her headphones pumping a steady stream of music into her eardrums with the consistency of a well-used vending machine.

This new house wasn't so bad. There'd been worse places, she thought, though she couldn't think of them at the moment. The sun still rose in the east, set in the west, and they were far enough away from the city that the stars were still visible. Their house was cozy, to quote her mother, which pretty much meant it was small. 'But perfect for a family of three.' Another quote from her mom. Yeesh, these days all her mother was was optimistic phrases and empty promises. Not a good combination, but Kirelan didn't complain. There could be worse people to have for a mom. She grimaced. Darn optimist gene.

Though it didn't really matter whether this house was nice or bad or in between, they wouldn't be here for long, maybe a year – tops. So needless to say Kirelan wasn't exactly doing so great in the friendship area. She never stayed long enough to get to know anyone, and after a while, she stopped trying to. After all, why get close to someone when you're going to leave anyway? Or at least, that's what she'd say to her mom with a shrug when she wanted to needle and guilt her. Which seemed to become more and more often she noticed without a clue as to how to explain why.

Shaking her head as if that would free her from that trail of thought, she switched her mind to a more pressing matter. Well, not exactly pressing, but a less. . . guilty topic. This 'pressing topic' being the strange dreams she'd been having as of late.

Her right hand tapped an unconscious rhythm as the other hand thumbed an accompaniment; very-blue eyes remained distant, trapped in far-off thoughts -- even as distant waves mumbled, the cries of the gulls faint and feeble from the other side of the city. She brushed a strand of dark brown hair away from her eyes, nose scrunched up in the effort of concentration as she clung to the fleeting dream. Something about a door and . . . A boy . . . Kirelan grasped at the rest, straining to gain sense from it all.

In the house behind her, something crashed down the stairs and tiny feet pounded after it, the owner of said feet whooping with joy. Her concentration shattered, the dream slipped through her figurative fingers, she sighed gustily. Not again. This was the fifth time she'd had that sort of dream, ever since she'd noticed the weird drawing on the old iron-wrought lamppost just across the street from her house the week before.

Of course, telling anyone this would be a waste of time. After all, the only people she could tell were either her mom or Trevon – and only the latter of the two would actually listen; he was also seven years old and thus found everything his older sister said interesting and important. With Kirelan being eight years older, to him she was the equivalent of a superhero, or an alien –those of which he was convinced lived in the pantry and were constant companions of his- she was leaning more towards being a superhero, something about the green skin and buggy eyes didn't appeal to her. For whatever weird reason.

Kirelan gave up on the dream, resolving to be content with waiting for it to come back again tonight. Maybe she would remember it next time, after all, it kept getting clearer and clearer each time, and every time she got closer to the opening of the door and who the boy with the bright eyes and giant key was. She kept her randomly appeared excitement in check. She really wanted, no, she needed to see what was on the other side of the door. For whatever reason her chest had been growing tight with anticipation over the days as the dream grew clearer, something was coming. She knew it.

"Kiri!!" Something small and bony climbed, monkey-like onto the teenager's back, wrapping thin arms around her neck as his legs folded themselves around her torso. She turned off her music and let her headpnones slide from her ears. "g'mornin'!" He chirped, bird-like in her ear. Kirelan grinned, tucking his legs under her arms as she stomped around the deck, making sure to bounce and jostle the squeaking seven-year-old.

Romping around the deck with him, Kirelan was all smile, despite her and her brother's age difference, they were very close. So close, in fact, that they were one another's closest thing to a best friend. Even though Trevon was the opposite of Kirelan and made friends everywhere they went, be it fast food restaurants, playgrounds or grocery stores. And none of his friends were ever limited to his age group. Actually, most were much older than him. Kirelan used to be the same way, but recently she'd just been isolating herself from the rest of the world. Or so her mom told all the school counselors since a year ago.

A stray wind rushed through the neighborhood, ruffling Trevon's dark mop of hair and Kirelan's own in one swoop. The horse-play halted, and they watched it rush away, silence prevailing. Something about 

that wind was strange, different. And both the teenager and child knew, in their own ways, something was happening. Good or bad was unsure. The only thing that was sure was that it was something. And it was going to happen. No matter what.

"Kiri, Trev! Breakfast time!"

Brother and sister shared a glance, matching blue eyes acknowledging before the younger pair's owner squirmed free of Kirelan's grip and bounded into the house, shouting something about aliens liking pancakes too. The girl followed, a smirk playing across her lips, it was probably nothing. Just a bunch of coincidences. After all, nothing happened to normal people. Or weird people for that matter, she noted as she watched Trevon dance around the kitchen trying to shove a piece of bacon into his mouth with a empty fishbowl on his head.

Kirelan munched her own bacon quietly, making a point not to converse with her mother past a murmured 'thanks' when she'd received her plate. She wanted her to know that she wasn't very happy about this arraignment, but was also determined not to complain. Her mom didn't try to break the silence, instead letting Trevon's babble outshine the radio that sang a fuzzy countenance to the youngster's sing-song voice.

Sliding down from the bar stool, the teen took her plate to the sink and handed it to her mother. The silence between them the uncomfortable sort as the woman gingerly took it from her daughter, her eyes sad and lips tight. Kirelan felt a tinge of guilt as she saw that, after all, mom was all she and Trevon had. And she was doing her best.

"Do you. . . need a ride to school, hun?" Her mom asked, without even a quiver to her voice. Kirelan shook her head in reply as she glanced at the clock. Trevon danced around the kitchen, as usual.

"No, it's not far, and I can walk Trev to class easy." Kirelan's mother nodded slowly, drying the suds and grease from her hands with a raggedy towl that had long ago lost it's original coloring, her eyes gaining a notch of sadness. "And you need to go to work, anyway." The girl added.

Kirelan ushered Trevon to get his socks and shoes as she deftly tied his lunch box to his backpack. Her mom made her way to the door, shouldering her overflowing purse as she gave Kirelan the same speech she'd 

always given on her first days of school. Make sure Trevon gets to class. Don't forget to get his homework. Make sure he wears his shoes on the right feet, have a wonderful day at school and I'll be home late so just warm up the mac n' cheese form last night. Be in bed by ten too, ect, ect, ect.

"Okay, okay mom. We're not new at this, ya'know." Kirelan replied with an eye roll. Her mother bit her lip and stared at her daughter sadly. Trevon raced between them, yelling something about a missing sock.

"I know, I know." Her mother said and caught Trevon on his second pass to kiss him on the nose and wish him a good day at school. Kirelan shifted her weight from foot to foot, uncomfortable as her mom turned and left, but not before snatching the keys that hung from a peg on the wall. "Bye Kiri, by Trevon, Love you." She called.

"Love you mommy!" Trevon yelled back as he shot past Kirelan again. But Kirelan herself was silent, unreachable. Just as she always was when her mother uprooted them to move to someplace far away. Nothing was ever the same when they moved. Except the fact that they rode the same train and that Kirelan always fell asleep and awoke when they got there. If she didn't know any better Kirelan would've thought that the new places were in fact new worlds. But that would be ridiculus. Kirelan turned her back on the door. Guilt tugging at her heartstrings.

Trevon rushed past again, hysterical over the loss of his sock. Kirelan sighed and found his missing sock with the ease of someone that had experienced many first days. Those of which she had experienced more than most.


	2. Smiling Stranger

Kirelan stared out of the window, tuning out the drone of a particularly monotone teacher as he explained the makings of the universe, or something like that. Outside, she could just see the playground where Trevon was hanging from the tallest monkey-bars, much to the distress of the flowery second grade teacher who had turned pale and was crying out piteously in her little girl's voice. A smirk tugged the teen's lips as she watched her brother pay the poor woman back as he swung and explained that he was waiting for the pirates. Trevon was cute and immature, but he could sure tell a story. If he was focused on having fun, making friends, and playing make-believe. Most currently that fun and make-believe contained climbing as high as possible. Much to the woman's distress.

Something dark caught her eye, something that didn't quite blend in with all the green and pastel of spring. Hooded and cloaked in what Kirelan fantasized to be pure darkness, it's cowl was pointed towards the very window she was staring out of. The teen gulped, staring into the darkness that took the place of it's face.

It was him.

At first, Kirelan couldn't figure out how she knew him. She'd never met him, she was sure of that, and even if it was a tad strange to wear a large black cloak with the hood up during a rather warm day, she didn't have any right to fear him. . . right? That's when it hit her. He'd been in her dream. The one by the door, with the darkness. Her eyes grew wide. The cowl of the cloak was angled in such a way that Kirelan found no trouble in believing he was staring at her right that minute. She gulped, suddenly remembering the sinister smile he had shown her in her dream.

He showed her as such now, making sure that she'd seen it before disappearing with a flourish of his shadow-clad arm. Kirelan shuddered. It was as if he had known she what she was thinking. Which she greatly hoped was not the case. Fingering her key-pendant through her T-shirt, it was warm, and seemed to take that warmth and distribute it back into her with a faint rhythm, like a miniature heart, and, in her delirium, she could almost swear she felt it beating alongside her own. Strange things you think when adrenaline is pumping through your system in response to the goose flesh racing up your arms.

The bell tolled out it's melancholy notes and around the school several children whooped as they raced from the classrooms, school was over for the weekend, thank goodness. Kirelan herself sighed, shoving her books into her backpack carelessly and joining the throng of students before one of the counselors could catch her and try to force her into going to a therapy session of some sort.

Dumping her bag off in a run-down locker, Kirelan hastily escaped to the outside. Taking a deep breath of afternoon air as if that would clear the musty stench of bricks and learning from her nostrils. She let the crowd shuffle past her, not caring even as a careless person elbowed past her with more force than necessary in their attempt to get a good seat on one of the decrepit yellow monsters that were the buses. Kirelan nonchalantly pushed her way through the crowd to a near-by bench to wait for Trevon. As the last of the kids piled into them, the buses each shot out coughing clouds of exhaust that sounded a bit too much like a heavy smoker's lungs for her comfort as she choked on the foul-smelling pollution. Disgusting.

You'd think that a school district with enough money for a good sport's program would have enough to spare for buses that didn't slowly kill their students. But no, of course they didn't.

"Kiri!!" Came an all-too familiar voice. Kirelan stood, grinning at the little boy that bounded towards her, trailing shoelaces like tentacles. She grabbed onto one of the stray strings, bending low to tie them up for him, in a double-knot and no less. "Aw, Kiri, I just got them good an' loose too!" He exclaimed, lip protruding in a mock pout.

Kirelan didn't buy it for a second. "I don't buy that for a second." She said, her eyes drifting up and over her brother's shoulder. Something cloaked in dark disappeared around a corner as soon as her eyes noted it. She stood, her mouth one fine line. "C'mon Trev, let's get home." She said and ushered the youngster down the sidewalk.


	3. A Nightmare Come True

_"…Where am I?" Kirelan asked herself aloud, her voice echoing strangely throughout the blackness. Shadows danced in the corners of her eyes, making her spin and whirl around every which way as she tried to catch a good look at them. Above her, small twinkling stars shone brightly, winking on and off individually. All around her was darkness, as if the ground wasn't there at all, it was just her, the darkness, and the beautiful twinkling stars above._

_The air rushed past her and whistling eerily like some demented harmonica. A strange floating sensation enveloped her, carrying her someone it seemed, but she could not pinpoint any direction, for the blackness disoriented her senses. At the very least she could tell she was upright, in a sort of standing position, even though her feet touched nothing but darkness. If her feet were even there, that is. For a moment, she stared up at the stars, just enjoying the sensation. That was before she noticed something._

_A sudden loss of light. She blinked, then noticed another loss. And another, and another. Then she realized what she was noticing. The stars, going out, one by one. Suddenly, the darkening of the stars grew faster, taking all of the light out at once in one fell swoop._

_"The Heart…" Something whispered in her ear, and she could feel their cool breath on the back of her neck. Gooseflesh raced up her arms as she looked over her shoulder._

_"Who's there?" She whispered back, fearing the answer that didn't come. And not knowing what was worse, hearing voices or being trapped there with some unseen person._

_Then one star grew from the midst of the darkness, growing larger and larger until Kirelan had to shield her eyes as all of the darkness whited out. That's when she noticed the millions of slightly off-white, faceless creatures stood in front of her, swaying slightly in a nonexistent breeze. Kirelan took a step back, fearful. Static seemed to raced across their ranks and the girl caught a glimpse of ghostly faces in the place of their alien craniums. But then it was gone, washed away like sidewalk-chalk on a rainy day._

_"The Heart..." She felt a tear slide unbidden down her cheek as the image began to fade away._

_"Pitiful, aren't they?" She looked over her shoulder, surprised. There was no one there. Kirelan turned back and came face to face with a tall figure in a dark cloak. She took a step back, startled by his sudden closeness._

_"W-who are you?" She stammered lamely, trying to hide her anxious fear with words. She took another step back away from him, as if distance would stop the fear._

_"Who am I? Oh, foolish girl, that should be the least of your worries." He said smugly, crossing his arms across his chest. Now more angry than frightened, Kirelan glared daggers up at him._

_"Just what do you want?" She asked, the anger showing in her voice, she clenched her fists, glaring up at him as he began to laugh._

_"It's not what I want, it's what THEY want." He replied and the blankness that surrounded her vanished, to be replaced by a quiet little street, with quant, cozy houses lining along it's length. Kirelan gasped, they were just outside of her house, that was her street-- and he was leaning against the old iron-wrought lamppost that she'd found the strange markings on._

_"What-" Kirelan froze, the words she'd been about to say dying in her throat as she grasped what lay before her. The cloaked man's hood slipped ever so slightly, revealing the wickedly smug smile he wore. But it wasn't he who had scared the girl so, behind him, blocking out the light of the moon with it's rippling body _

_of darkness, was a giant creature. Huge yellow eyes stared at her, the gaping hole shaped like a heart in the middle of it's chest filled with shadows and fear, and all around the teen, millions of the small creatures made of darkness watched her, antennae twitching at every shallow breath she took._

_The man's wicked smile grew when he saw the fear that she had tried so hard to keep from her expression reflected in her eyes._

_"Do you fear the darkness?" he asked and then laughed, throwing his head up in the air. Kirelan's stomach lurched and took she a step back, big mistake. A million yellow eyes turned to look at her, as a deathly silence took over. So, she did the only thing she could think of, ran away, away from the evil man and the strange and frightening creatures made of darkness._

_All the man did was start to laugh again, even louder than before, as if her escape attempt amused him. She looked over her shoulder to see why he was laughing, and found she was going nowhere. Trapped in a rippling pool of darkness, she was, like a fly on fly paper, she thought ruefully. She pulled at a foot in an attempt to free it, only to have it sucked back in when she put it down to try to pull the other out. The darkness was up to her knees now, and she struggled more violently, anything to break free of the hold the darkness had. However, it had the same reaction quicksand would when it's prey was trying to fight free and sucked her down even faster._

_"You can't fight the darkness." Kirelan struggled more, trying to get at the man that was the cause of her capture, but the darkness just pulled the girl down farther, now up to her waist—Kirelan took in a shuddering breath and stopped struggling._

_"I can sense your fear, your pain, girl." She glared at him, her anger renewed._

_"Why don't you just give it to us willingly? Lie still and we'll make it quick, painless even." She looked up at him, confusion written all over her face._

_"What could you possibly want from me?" He smirked, as if he'd been waiting for her to say that all along. As if impatient, the darkness sucked her down deeper still, leaving only her free arm and neck out. At this rate, she didn't have much to lose by struggling. So she did, her hand grasping for something, anything, and reaching only empty air._

_"Your Heart." He whispered just as she was fully engulfed by the darkness._

Kirelan shot bolt upright, her breath coming in ragged gasps and her back covered in a cold sweat. Her eyes darted about the room as her brain grasped at it all hungrily, she was in the living room, the television mumbling something about energy bars. Outside rain thudded on the verandah, somewhere in the house a radio hummed a jingly. Slowly, her breathing calmed as she relaxed. It had just been a dream. Albeit a very realistic one, but a dream nonetheless.

"Nothing bad is going to happen." She scolded herself after jumping at the rather loud sound of a thunderclap. But just as she thought that comforting thought, the power decided to prove her wrong and black out.

Sudden darkness. And somewhere in the house, Kirelan heard a scream full of fear. "Trevon!" she exclaimed, throwing caution and good sense to the wind as she jumped off the couch, hitting her shin on the coffee table in the process. She stumbled down the hall, feeling her way towards the front door where she'd thought the sound had come from.

The door banged and rattled against it's frame, this storm was a big one, a bad choice to go outside, her logical side noted as she threw the door open. Needless to say the logic was ignored.

"Trevon!" She called, stumbling down the steps as she followed the soft sobbing sounds that she could somehow make out under the booming of the storm. "Tre-" She halted suddenly, her words dying on her tongue as the pitch-black she'd been trapped in was suddenly illuminated.

It wasn't the sudden lighting that was so surprising, but the thing from whence it came from that was. Where the iron-wrought lamppost had once stood, there was now a door. It had no knob or hinge that she could see, and thus looked impenetrable to her, it was made from dark wood she'd never seen the like of before, and the lamppost light hung from the peak of it.

Alarms went off in her head. This was bad news, she was certain. But she was rooted to the spot, curiosity is a strong thing, and hers was stronger than most, though at the moment, her priority was-

Laughing. The dark cloaked man she'd seen in her dream and at school strode out from the shadows, Trevon's hand clasped in his own. Kirelan's eyes were wide. Something was wrong with Trevon, his eyes were blank and unfocused, but there was something else. . . Something she couldn't quite name.

"What are you doing with my brother?!" She shouted, looking as surprised as the man did when the words jumped from her lips filled with anger.

"We're just going on a little trip, aren't we Trevon?" He said with a mocking note in his voice as he placed a hand on Trevon's head. Kirelan fumed, ignoring the fact that the storm seemed to have frozen along with time and everything else as she took a step forward.

"Let him go!" She ordered with what was almost a growl. The man just smirked as he turned his head towards the door, Trevon following suit. Kirelan's courageous step faltered and she glanced at it over her shoulder.

Then there was a loud creak of something long unused and dusty.


End file.
